Never Give Up

"Did you say Janet was still alive?"

The ever-smiling young man stood before him, and Hank Pym shot to his feet, breathing heavily as his entire body trembled.

"Do you have proof?"

Hope stood beside the door with her arms crossed. Ants of every kind crawled across the floor and walls around her.

Flying insects filled the room. This was practically an insect world!

Strangely, none of the insects dared approach Old Wang. They left an empty space with a radius of one meter around him, as though this harmless-looking, slightly chubby kingpin was actually a terrifying anteater.

Beneath that chubby exterior was the heart of a panda.

Seeing this, Hope became even more certain of her judgment.

Mr. Wang truly was the legendary Immortal Iron Fist, a transcendent who had entered the Dao through martial arts. Someone like him could be trusted.

Her mother…

Was alive!

If not for her inexplicable trust in Mr. Wang, she would never have brought him here to meet the father she had never wanted to see.

Looking at the stubborn old man with graying hair before him, Old Wang said calmly, "You were Ant-Man, and she was Wasp. In 1987, separatists hijacked a Soviet missile silo in Kursk and launched an intercontinental missile at the United States."

Dr. Pym’s face instantly darkened.

That was his most agonizing memory, and it had been brought up again.

That was nothing.

The relevant mission report was archived at S.H.I.E.L.D. Its clearance level was high, but this man was the director of the Shengun Bureau and had close ties with Nick Fury. It was normal for him to know.

Hope’s eyes flew wide open.

Her mother had disappeared in 1987. This had to be connected to what Mr. Wang was about to say!

At that moment, she felt incomparably grateful to Mr. Wang.

If not for him, she might never have learned the truth in her entire life!

Old Wang continued, "The only way to destroy the missile was to pass through solid titanium, enter its core, and sabotage it from within. To do that, the body had to be shrunk until it could pass through intermolecular gaps. That should have been your mission, but… your regulator malfunctioned."

Dr. Pym’s hands trembled.

If the regulator had not malfunctioned so badly, he should have been the one to die!

Hope suddenly glanced at him. She guessed what came next, and her eyes began to brim with tears.

Old Wang sighed. "Your wife, Janet, was an extraordinary hero. She shut off her regulator, shrank to subatomic size, passed through the solid titanium, and completed the mission… but she never returned."

Hope said nothing as tears streamed down her face.

She finally knew the truth, and she finally understood why her father had blamed himself all these years…

It was not his fault. It had been her mother’s choice.

The reason he had never told her was because he wanted to protect her. He was afraid she would try to find her mother.

He had already lost his wife. He could not lose his daughter too.

"Enough!"

Dr. Pym suddenly roared.

"What’s the point of saying all this? After that, I spent ten years researching quantum mechanics! Ten years! No one in this world understands quantum mechanics better than I do, but so what? Quantum mechanics is too complicated. We know nothing about it! She can’t come back. She really can’t come back! Young man, you have no idea what it means to shrink to subatomic size!"

"No, I do."

Old Wang gently shook his head. "Shrinking to subatomic size means entering a Quantum Realm where time and space are insignificant, a world the human brain simply cannot process. You cannot even restart the regulator there, which means there is no way back."

"Then why bring it up?!" Pym was furious.

"Because there’s something I’ve never been able to understand."

Old Wang glanced at Dr. Pym, his gaze profound.

"You’ve never been to the Quantum Realm. How do you know what it’s really like there? How do you know… that there’s no way back?"

Dr. Pym froze.

Old Wang had struck at the heart of his thoughts.

Could someone truly return after entering the Quantum Realm? He really did not know.

What exactly was the Quantum Realm? Would someone entering it die? He did not know that either.

Other than his wife, no one had ever entered the Quantum Realm. All his conjectures were based on scientific research, but the Quantum Realm was far too mysterious. Without actual practice, no conjecture could be considered reliable—

Practice was the sole criterion for testing truth.

Janet might still be alive. She might be waiting in the Quantum Realm for him to save her… That was one of the things that had kept him alive. The other, of course, was his daughter Hope.

Now someone was telling him that his wife was alive. It was like a shot of adrenaline to the heart, but…

If it could not be proven, it would become poison instead.

But how could he prove it?

If not for his concern for his daughter, he would have put on the Ant-Man Armor and entered the Quantum Realm to search long ago.

Even if he had to die, they would die together!

"Director Wang, do you have proof?"

Dr. Pym looked at Old Wang as though he had seen hope.

This young director of the Shengun Bureau was a miracle in himself.

He was the Immortal Iron Fist and had connections to both Kamar-Taj and K’un-Lun. Perhaps…

Perhaps he really knew something?

"How would you know without going to see for yourself?"

Old Wang said calmly, "You worked hard for ten years, but your wife has been missing for over twenty. Did you give up during all those later years?"

Dr. Pym fell silent.

He had continued researching the Quantum Realm, but the difficulty was immense.

Although he kept telling himself that he had not given up, in truth, he had already lost hope. His research was no longer as intensive as it had been during those first ten years. Instead, he had spent much of his time battling wits with S.H.I.E.L.D.

Like many top scientists, his most important achievements had been made before he turned thirty. The years afterward had indeed been somewhat wasted.

Thinking of this, he suddenly hated himself and felt deeply regretful.

If he had kept working all this time, perhaps Janet would have already returned, and their family would be reunited?

"The most terrifying things in the world are regret and giving up… The former is meaningless, while the latter makes your life meaningless."

Old Wang said, "As long as you’re willing to persist, I’ll help you."

"How?"

Dr. Pym looked despondent. "Quantum mechanics is the most profound discipline in the world. I’ve studied it for so many years and still can’t fully understand it. I have no confidence that I can enter the Quantum Realm and return."

"This world has held you back, forcing you to walk this road toward the future alone, without even a single helper."

Old Wang flipped his hand, and a stack of A4 paper appeared in it. "I’ve acquired some knowledge related to quantum mechanics. Even the world’s foremost scientists can’t understand it. Perhaps… you can?"

Dr. Pym was suspicious.

Was there really someone in this world who understood the Quantum Realm better than he did?

Where could such knowledge have come from?

Yet unwilling to let go of hope, he took the A4 papers.

After a single glance, he began to frown.

It really was related to quantum mechanics.

Although it mainly concerned quantum computing, all knowledge was interconnected. If he could thoroughly study this material, it would also help his research into the Quantum Realm.

Even if the help was limited, developing a true Quantum Computer and Quantum Brain, with computing speeds hundreds of millions of times beyond those of supercomputers, would benefit his future research. Advanced research inevitably required complex calculations and complex modeling.

Strange. How could this knowledge be so profound that even I can understand only half of it?

To fully grasp it all, I may need some time.

Just a few thin sheets of paper, only a handful of formulas, and they were worth at least ten Nobel Prizes.

No, this knowledge was incomplete. Several crucial formulas and principles were missing.

Pym understood.

He looked at Old Wang. "Director Wang, you want me to join the Shengun Bureau?"

"If you’re willing, that would naturally be for the best."

Old Wang smiled and extended his left hand. "I guarantee on my honor that I will never covet any of your technology, including Pym Particles and the Ant-Man Armor. Unless I have your permission, none of it will be used anywhere. What do you say?"

Pym’s expression shifted.

He did not want to trust any organization. He had spent most of his life preventing Stark Industries and S.H.I.E.L.D. from obtaining his technology.

Pym Particles were not toy technology like Iron Man’s armor. They could alter the properties of matter and were extremely dangerous.

If used improperly, or if they fell into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Promises were the most worthless things in the world. Mr. Wang might not be trustworthy.

But as long as there was hope of saving Janet, he would not give up.

Compared to destroying the world, his wife and daughter mattered more.

So…

He extended his left hand and clasped Old Wang’s with both hands. "A pleasure working with you."